Dodger players do not like Puig

[soxhop411]

Inside the Los Angeles Dodgers' clubhouse, the contempt some teammates hold for outfielder Yasiel Puig is no longer a secret limited to whispers. They discuss it openly, resigned to the fact that the Dodgers don't plan to trade their mega-talented right fielder no matter how deep the animus runs.

"We've talked about this," one Dodgers player told Yahoo Sports. "At this point, it would be addition by subtraction."
Stories of Puig's ability to infuriate teammates have percolated through baseball since he shot to fame as a rookie in 2013 and cemented himself last season as one of baseball's greatest talents. Now, in "The Best Team Money Can Buy," a fascinating new book that explores the inner workings of the Dodgers' clubhouse, author Molly Knight delivers anecdote after Puig anecdote that illuminates what makes him so off-putting to so many.

The idea of trading Puig a notion the Dodgers have never seriously entertained, according to sources comes down to a simple question: Would Los Angeles really be better without him? And even if some players believe that might be the case, none of the past incidents have convinced the Dodgers that Puig's harm today goes beyond occasional annoyance.

While some issues, like his habitual tardiness for games, have abated this year, according to sources, Puig's work ethic in batting practice and the weight room continue to bother some teammates. Much of the hostility stems from a general sense of entitlement shown by the 24-year-old. During spring training this year, as Knight writes and multiple sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports, Puig argued with teammates over who should be allowed on a plane ride that typically includes wives and girlfriends. The subject of someone from Puig's entourage joining the traveling crew came up, and sources told Yahoo Sports that Puig argued with pitcher Zack Greinke and nearly came to blows with infielder Justin Turner over the matter.

Greinke, the National League ERA leader and one of the game's best pitchers, was at the center of another memorable Puig moment related in Knight's book. In 2014, during the Dodgers' annual trip to Chicago, the team bus stopped downtown to allow rookies undergoing hazing to walk into a pizza place and emerge with food for the veterans. Some Dodgers players, not wanting to wait, skipped off the bus. When the bus was ready to leave, Puig was outside, looking for his luggage inside of the bay underneath the bus. After Puig ignored multiple requests to close the luggage bay, Greinke hopped off the bus, grabbed the suitcase in front of Puig and chucked it onto Michigan Avenue. Puig stepped toward Greinke and was restrained by reliever J.P. Howell.
Word of the incident spread quickly, those there giddily recounting it to those who got off the bus, and highlighted the chasm between Puig and his teammates.

Puig's reputation preceded his time with the Dodgers. During spring training 2013, Mitch Poole, the Dodgers' longtime clubhouse manager, assigned Puig's jersey number on a lark. "I thought it'd be funny to give him number 66 to reference 666, like he was Diablo," Poole told Knight. During the spring, Puig cottoned to the number and asked to keep it because he thought it was good luck.

Upon his debut, Puig already made teammates wary by engaging in a relationship with a minor league coach's daughter. His inability to show up on time was another constant problem. Puig was chided by veteran Skip Schumaker during his rookie season for coming to the stadium 20 minutes after he was expected to arrive. Manager Don Mattingly benched Puig opening day when he was nearly an hour late.

How Puig's on-field impact (he's hitting .289/.382/.465 this season) meshes with the off-the-field issues will remain a constant question for the Dodgers until the latter vanishes or the former wanes. The Dodgers have gone out of their way to help Puig, according to Knight's book, assigning a private security firm to watch over him because of threats from the drug cartel that smuggled him to Mexico from Cuba. The organization is constantly trying to balance assuaging Puig while not showing him preferential treatment, aware his value to the team goes beyond his statistics. As Knight wrote: "Whatever Puig's issues were, he was one of the best players in the game, he sold tickets, and he was relatively cheap

more at the link
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/book--disdain-for-yasiel-puig-by-dodgers-teammates-no-longer-a-secret-212239227.html

 

[Comfortably Lomb]

It must suck to be a millionaire in your 20s and not like one of your coworkers.

 

[santadevil]

At little further towards the end of the article, I thought was a good quote.
 

 
"You guys tell me how you want me to play," Puig said during a meeting last year, according to Knight's book, and a few teammates spoke up, including then-Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who said: "I just don't want your career to go the way my career went. All my teammates hated me because of the way I played."

 

[Marciano490]

Yeah, throwing someone's luggage into traffic seems like a huge overreaction and fairly disruptive if not dangerous. Greinke comes off as the bigger asshole there.

 

[barbed wire Bob]

Greinke has a social anxiety disorder and people with this type of disorder express their anxiety in weird ways. I suspect the luggage throwing incident is just a manifestation of that disorder. And then there is this:

Calcaterra writes that Dodgers manager Don Mattingly called a team meeting in 2013, and Greinke did something he never does: He stood up and addressed the team. Some of you guys have been doing the No. 2 and not washing your hands, Greinke said, per Calcaterra. Its not good. I noticed it even happening earlier today. So if you guys could just be better about it, that would be great. Apparently, the Dodgers couldnt tell whether Greinke was being serious. They eventually decided he was, which made it even funnier, and they started laughing.

http://nesn.com/2015/06/zack-greinke-called-out-teammates-for-not-washing-hands-after-doing-no-2/

 

[BannedbyNYYFans.com]

Do only white players have a problem with Puig? None of the examples in the portion posted seem all that egregious. Greinke, for one, has had lots of issues with teammates, opponents, etc hasn't he?

 
No, Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez both got into it with Puig in the dugout on separate occasions.  

 

[Puffy]

I couldn't even really follow the pizza story.

 

[Toe Nash]

They'll never win a championship with someone like this on the team. Just ask Manny Ramirez.

 

[InsideTheParker]

1) Nice to read that Hanley has apparently learned from his mistakes and
2) Laugh all you will at Greinke, but if everyone on the team you root for were down with the shits and/or projectile vomiting at the same time, would you be laughing then?

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

Basic Hygiene-Gate.

 

[EvilEmpire]

This all sounds like the pilot for a sitcom.

 

[MakMan44]

This sounds like a book I want to read. 

 

[P'tucket rhymes with...]

This sounds like a book I want to read. 

Ball Four meets DSM-V.

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

Ball Four meets DSM-V.

Out-fvcking-standing!

 

[moondog80]

Yeah, throwing someone's luggage into traffic seems like a huge overreaction and fairly disruptive if not dangerous. Greinke comes off as the bigger asshole there.

Sounds like a straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back situation.

 

[AbbyNoho]

Greinke would have freaked if he had to pitch to Jorge "I-piss-on-my-hands" Posada. 

 

[Marciano490]

Pitched to him?  What if he was his catcher - tossing that ball back after every pitch?  You know he's just throw strikes and pitch to contact.

 

[singaporesoxfan]

 
 
While some issues, like his habitual tardiness for games, have abated this year, according to sources, Puig's work ethic in batting practice and the weight room continue to bother some teammates.

 
I totally get the irritation at tardiness and entitlement, but if his teammates are bothered by the lack of weight training and BP effort even though there doesn't seem to be much (if any) evidence that these have affected his on-field performance, that seems to be on them rather than Puig. Essentially it's them saying that it's not enough that Puig is succeeding, he has to be seen to be working hard to succeed.

 

[EvilEmpire]

I doubt it is about appearances. I think it more likely that some folks think he isn't reaching his full potential.

It's a shame for Puig that all this is in the news. A brighter spotlight on the wrong kind of things won't help him develop or improve.

 

[Al Zarilla]

Pitched to him?  What if he was his catcher - tossing that ball back after every pitch?  You know he's just throw strikes and pitch to contact.

I think that's what Andrew meant. 

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Greinke has a social anxiety disorder and people with this type of disorder express their anxiety in weird ways. I suspect the luggage throwing incident is just a manifestation of that disorder.
 

 
Oh. It's just anxiety. I thought he was being a dick. 

 

[barbed wire Bob]

Oh. It's just anxiety. I thought he was being a dick.

No, he's a dick with an anxiety disorder. I don't know if that's better or worse than being just a plain dick.

 

[DJnVa]

Do only white players have a problem with Puig? None of the examples in the portion posted seem all that egregious. Greinke, for one, has had lots of issues with teammates, opponents, etc hasn't he?

 
You posted this right after a post with a story about Hanley Ramirez addressing Puig...

 

[reggiecleveland]

A lot of this depends on the other guys. I have been part of teams where a star was a dick, and other guys let it go because of what he brought on the field. Other times guys that work hard, etc, just can't handle it. A different group of guys may just live with the numbers he puts up. As for comparisons to Manny, they don't really fit. By all accounts Manny worked hard, and was dedicated to his hitting. He was selfish and petulant, but for the most part he did his work.

 

[reggiecleveland]

advice that showed he agreed with the others

 

[MakMan44]

Picked up the book. Good stuff so far. 

 

[soxhop411]

There is more and more talk of Yasiel Puig losing popularity with his Dodgers teammates, a major league source tells Cafardo. Puig was once viewed an untouchable player because of his talent, but the new regime does not feel that way at this time. Cafardo wonders aloud if they would move the slugger for a pitcher and pondered him as a match in a Cole Hamels deal with the Phillies.

Mlbtr